Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air control system with an integrated diagnostic element for a motor vehicle, including a carrier structure; an air output opening; a closing element arrangement adjustably mounted on the carrier structure for variation of the flow cross-section of the air output opening at least between a closed position and an open position with one or several closing elements; a power unit that is constructed to adjust the closing element arrangement in an adjusting motion at least between the closed position and the open position; a diagnostic device that is constructed to acquire information about the status of the closing element arrangement; and an interface to convey data at least from the diagnostic device to an additional device that can be an external device provided in the vehicle, but also an internal device itself belonging to the air control system.
Description of the Related Art
A generic air control system is disclosed for example in the German patents DE 10 2011 116 394 A1 and DE 10 2006 028 634 A1.
Diagnostic systems (known as On-Board Diagnostic Systems, abbreviated OBD Systems) are widely used in vehicles in order to continuously monitor the operation of various control devices, especially such systems that influence the exhaust emissions of the vehicle.
Air control systems regulate the operating temperature of various component parts of a vehicle, in particular the engine. Their functional efficiency is relevant both for the operational dependability as well as fuel consumption and exhaust behavior of the vehicle.
Thus air control systems with an integrated diagnostic device are used in the prior art, wherein the diagnostic device is constructed to provide feedback, for example to an OBD system, as to whether the air control system is working as intended.
The generic air control system described in DE 10 2011 116 394 A1 serves to control the air flow through the radiator grill opening of a vehicle and includes a closing element arrangement of several air flaps as closing elements. The adjusting movement of the air flaps is regulated via a master controller, wherein a subordinate processor functions as a diagnostic device and provides feedback to the master controller about the current status of the air flaps, such as whether they have opened or closed.
In order to produce such feedback, sensors are used in the prior art, in the case of pivoting air flaps Hall sensors or potentiometers, as known from DE 10 2006 028 634 A1.
Such sensors require construction space, must be supplied with energy, and increase the assembly cost as well as the susceptibility to failure and, not least, increase the cost of the air control system.
This is especially relevant when the closing element arrangement includes several closing elements moving together via a connection structure.
During vehicle operation, it can happen that the coupling in a closing element separates from the connection structure, for example by material breakage, when the adjusting movement of a closing element is blocked, for example by a foreign object in the air control system.
In order to check whether such an air control system is functioning properly, namely whether all air flaps displace according to the control commands, it is not sufficient to check the position of the power unit, but moreover the status of each individual air flap must be acquired by a special sensor, which for the reasons previously stated, makes the air control system technically complicated, prone to error, and expensive